Planning a new website redo that will look great but is horrible on performance is like buying a billboard on a road that’s closed.

How a website is built is just as imporant as what it looks like.

Today, website designs are now developed in one of two ways:

Use atheme builder.

Code by hand (using data structures, coding stacks and snippits).

A theme builder is a piece of software—an app a designer uses to generate the actual set of themes making a complete website. The user uses the software to "paint" the design and structure of a website and the software generates the website.

Thinking about a website redo for your business? If so, you have three choices and only three:

Hire an agency to build a custom website.

Hire an agency to buy a $50 theme or template and have them modify it slightly.

Buy the $50 theme yourself and load the content yourself.

We think the only viable choice is #1, a custom design. We think it’s the only choice even if you’re a startup or small local business on a budget. That's because whatever you spend on digital marketing—and your website is the foundation for that—is the most important investment you can make.

Not everyone agrees. In fact, Forbes published an article entitled, “Why You Should Never Build A $10,000 Website.” I agree: Not everyone needs a $10,000 website but that doesn't mean you should compromise.

While I could list 50 other issues that plague web design (like don’t hire a crappy agency), the following are the top five issues we've observed. Go to any business website and you’ll stand a chance to see at least one of these five issues.

Here’s the key question: Does it really cost any more $$ to do something right the first time? Even if it did, what’s it worth to you and your brand to do a website update, maintaining a sense of excellence among your prospects instead of sloppiness?

Vetting out a web design agency actually is not the first step you should take. Setting goals and expectations of your new website is. But as soon as you’re done with goals, you are going to have to hire a web developer or agency.

As you may assume, there is very little difference between me hiring a web developer and you hiring one. While there are many qualifications you could look for, we put the following five qualifications to hire a web developer at the top:

Choosing a website platform often is one of the hardest choices a company can make. After all, the digital marketing choices you make will either make or break your entire marketing efforts.

WordPress is a website platform you either grow to love or to hate. Like many products, there are things that make a product popular but just because everyone else thinks something is great doesn’t mean it will be great for you.

Contracting for a new company website most often is a highly frustrating experience. How do I decide on a web development company? How much should I pay for a website? What platform should I get? How much time will it take? What's it going to do for me?

Company websites today are built on an endless variety of platforms but can be bucketed into two categories and two categories only:

One of marketers’ and business owners’ greatest pain points is contracting for a website redo. You know how it goes: After vetting many agencies, you finally hire one. Then, you spend countless hours on design choices, strategy sessions, team meetings, and content planning.

The newest trend in website construction is Growth Driven Design built on the Hubspot COS platform. Only about 900 agencies worldwide currently are trained and certified to create and maintain this new model of website design.

Hubspot’s Growth Driven Design is an exciting, new set of strategies and practices that when executed, produce a website that will never grow old or stale. So, say “good bye” to website redesign projects forever.

WordPress is one of the best known and most popular software applications for website development today. It’s popularity is bolstered by the plethora of plugins and free or cheap themes available. Because of those assets, WordPress remains as a top contender to the many other CMS (Content Management Systems) from which to choose.

Planning a website redo? One the first questions that’s bound to come up in your initial strategy session is, “What platform are we going to use?”

Website platforms are important. A website platform is like the engine in your vehicle—it’s the thing that makes the website display all your content, how it’s optimized, and how easy (or not so easy) it is for you to edit something.

In website design, there are two—and only two—current design trends: UX Design and Content RichDesign. These two compete for attention just as the proverbial Chevy vs. Ford debates did you’ve heard since you were a kid.

Back in the early days of the Internet, in the 90’s, I, and everyone else, were building websites using HTML and CSS display languages. Then came some programming languages like PERL and JavaScript that allowed us to do some fancy stuff, like install slideshows and send email through a website.

My company, Cohort Marketing, is at the leading edge of a new trend that blows the old pricing and delivery model out of the water. Our Agile marketing model with story point pricing takes all the mystery out of project delivery and puts you in the driver's seat.

Within the realm of digital marketing, website design still creates among the most confusion. I previously wrote about two competing website platforms, WordPress and Hubspot.

In this article, I want to look at one of the newest inbound marketing trends: The Growth-Driven website. I want to nail down why any growing business should value a high-performing website more than any other piece of their digital marketing plan.

Let's compare static website design with Hubspot's growth-driven design. A static website is what you’re used to. You know the game: You contract with a designer, decide what you want, write the content, and launch the site. Then what happens? Your new website sits there hoping it will help your business, and then a few years down the road, you painfully repeat the same process all over again. Professional services marketing is a process that should begin now and never end.

Our primary concern is helping you achieve your marketing and sales goals. If you buy without knowing the value you're getting, and are not totally delighted, we know you're going to cut and run at your earliest opportunity.

Helping clients to get leads, convert them into customers, and streamline their sales processes always has been our primary passion. We excel by being able to deliver marketing strategies and initiatives that help your company grow and save costs by producing positive marketing ROI.